210Pb and 210Po concentration levels in tobacco products and resulting radiation dose for Egyptian smokers

Abstract

The activity concentrations of 210Pb and 210Po in the most popular cigarettes and moassel tobacco brands consumed in Egypt were determined by the spontaneous deposition method using alpha spectrometry. It turned out that the activity concentration of 210Po was higher than that of 210Pb in all tobacco brands. Higher activity concentrations for both 210Pb and 210Po were found in cigarette than in moassel tobacco. The average activity concentrations of 210Pb and 210Po in cigarette tobacco were 11.79 ± 1.67 and 15.00 ± 1.83mBq cig-1, respectively, whereas in moassel tobacco the values were 7.08 ± 1.91 and 9.12 ± 1.12mBq g-1, respectively. The daily activities inhaled in the lung of a smoker and the inhalation effective doses due to cigarette and shisha smoking were calculated. The results revealed that the total 210Pb and 210Po daily activities inhaled and the total annual inhalation effective doses due to shisha smoking were two times greater than the corresponding values due to cigarette smoking. Also, the results indicated that the annual effective doses from inhalation of 210Pb and 210Po due to smoking 20 cigarettes per day are 14 and 16 times greater than the annual ingestion doses from the diet, respectively. In contrast, the annual effective doses from inhalation of 210Pb and 210Po due to shisha smoking (27g moassel tobacco per day) are 26 and 33 times greater than the annual ingestion doses from the diet, respectively.